Where There's a Will
by werks
Summary: S2-05: The last of the "Where the Heart Lies," post-epilogue "I See Fire," short, series-ending pieces I'm sliding in for fun since my buddy lawslave requested that our little lovebirds get their much-anticipated post-accident/baby time together as a couple. Of course, it wouldn't "werk" if I made it that easy, so it's combined it with a little something I had on the back burner.
1. Chapter 1

Where There's a Will(iam)…

 _This is the last of the "Where the Heart Lies," post-epilogue "I See Fire," short, series-ending pieces that I'm sliding in for fun since my buddy lawslave requested that our little lovebirds get their much-anticipated post-accident/baby time together as a couple. Of course, it wouldn't "werk" if I made it that easy, so it's combined it with a little something I had on the back burner._

* * *

Chapter 1

"I _cannot_ believe this is happening tonight of all nights!" Jamison Reagan griped and fidgeted in objection while dressed uncomfortably on this hot night in a tuxedo shirt and pants while sequestered against his will in the passenger seat of Eddie's SUV as she manned, or rather _womaned_ , the wheel despite his protests in stopped-dead late-night traffic on the Triboro Bridge. "I told you we should have taken the FDR and gone through the tunnel! We could have been back home to Bay Ridge in an hour and a half, tops! We're wasting time! Nothing's moved in what? Twenty minutes? Where the hell are the units from the 2-3 that should be out here clearing this mess?"

"Hey, mister, look… after what I just went through, I don't even want to hear about it," Eddie returned equally irritably as she twitched and tugged at the itchy neckline of her once-favorite, go to knee-length, three-quarter sleeve, lace cocktail dress with its slim-fitting bodice that previously flattered all of her curves, but tonight just past six weeks postpartum from the baby's arrival was sadly a little lacking in that quality. "Designated driver picks the route, and I mean who does that?! Gets up in the morning when she's seven-and-a-half months pregnant and decides to have some kind of pop up formal Friday evening wedding-slash-baby shower that night at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx during the middle of July for what, at least two hundred people? It's still like a hundred degrees outside, and she _actually_ managed to pull it off!" Eddie huffed and nearly convulsed at the thought of Addison Greene looking so positively radiant and bubbly under those circumstances as she married the equally handsomely attired George Mahoy in a hastily planned ceremony at the stunning venue. "Did you see that? The cake, the flowers, her hair, her gorgeous DRESS covering up her cute little baby bump which is like half the size mine was, and Joey was _tiny!_ Everything was PERFECT except me! The humidity ruined the half-assed updo I tried to do myself, and this was the only thing I had in my closet that came close to fitting! Even my shoes were too small! The little booger munchie made my feet grow!" she added before pulling her uncomfortable heels off and tossing them behind them somewhere in the backseat.

"Eddie, the venue had a last-minute cancellation this morning and were desperate so called to see if she would bump up their original date. They paid pennies on the dollar for the whole package, and everything was pre-ordered and pre-planned by the bride that bailed except for the dress. Addie was supposed to have her shower tomorrow afternoon, so the whole family was already in town from Portland, anyway. They knew she really wanted to be married before the baby was born, so it was a no-brainer. You didn't have to come if you didn't want to, I mean they would have understood!"

"Right, I'm going to let _my_ husband go off and be the best man at his ex's wedding and not show up," his wife shook her head and gripped the wheel, tempted to lay on the horn like everyone else in gridlock around them. "I couldn't even go shopping this afternoon after I heard about it because I had to take _your_ son to the pediatrician for his checkup and then put _my_ feet up in the stirrups again for a once over and all clear at Dr. G's office, thank you very much. Tonight was supposed to be _our_ night, Jamison Henry Reagan! It's been like… I don't know… FOREVER! Since _before_ your trip to Washington! I had champagne and chocolate, and two Grandpa babysitters lined up and everything until your whole family decided to go to this thing too! Having you stand up there toasting George and Addie instead and then watching you take a gazillion wedding party pictures with her and without me was not part of the plan, lambchop, and honestly, it kinda wrecked the mood!"

"Oh, no… please don't say that!" Jamie begged as he reached over and grabbed her hand. "You looked great tonight! I only ever have eyes for you! C'mon! The reason the electric bill's been so low lately is that I've been taking cold showers for more than a month! You in that dress was all I was thinking about, TRUST ME! Even with everything that's happened lately between the baby, Pop and his heart, plus Rigs passing and then going down to Washington for the ceremony the other day… Danny and Linda with little Kitty Elise… I've had this date circled on the calendar since the day Joey was born, but how could I say no to George and Addie? I mean so they did things a little backward when they got pregnant on their engagement night, and now somehow managed to combine their wedding and baby shower… which is weird, I'll grant you that, but think about it, someday we're gonna look back on this and laugh… and besides, sweetheart, we've still got the rest of the night," he implored with a little nudge.

 _"Had..._ we should have just gotten a hotel room. It's gonna be tomorrow morning until we get home at this point, and then the kids will be in the house since we can't leave them any longer with Mom because she has to work a Saturday open house. At this rate, we'll still be sitting here 'til then!"

"There's always the back seat."

"Bite me, Reagan."

"Well, where there's a will there's a way, and right now I have more than enough will..." Jamie trailed off suggestively in a sort of desperation before taking a deep, cleansing breath and turning forward as the conversation was threatening to devolve into something a little too risqué for the close, public quarters they were keeping stopped in the middle of three lanes of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

"Maybe we should talk about something else."

"Anything," his wife agreed as she was likewise feeling flushed and turned up the ineffective air conditioning in the dead, oppressive heat that was blanketing the area while fanning her face in the sweltering humidity. "Why don't you check to see how the Yankees did. Give me the play-by-play."

"But you hate baseball."

"Ya think?" came the scathing reply as he had failed to catch her intent at first. "God, it's so hot in here, and these pantyhose are too tight! Don't look now, but they're coming off too!" she warned and started to shimmy out of them.

"O..k..a..y… not sure that's gonna help, but gotcha," Jamie conceded as he put his left hand up to shield his eyes from the sight while pulling out his phone and looking up the box scores. "Let's see… losing 4-3 in the bottom of the 12th… huh, went extra innings. Was tied at nothing until White Sox's Frazier had a grand slam in the top of the inning, Taylor just stole a base and slid into second, so the Yanks have one on and one out right now… all they need to tie is a sacrifice fly to get him around third and into... home base."

"Reagan."

"Right, my bad… no more talk of sliding into anything or home runs," he sighed looking for a topic that was safer. "How about Facebook? Gotta be some mood killers there. Let's see, where are all those angry posts about politics when you need them? Oh, here's something, hon, the Just Muttz shelter in Manhattan is having an adoption drive this weekend. That's the private, no-kill one we took strays sometimes out of the 12th when the city pound was closed. It says their kennel is completely full and all fees are waived on seniors. Maybe we can take the kids and go check it out?"

"Jamie, I know you really want a dog now that we have a house with a yard, but it wouldn't be fair to one, would it? We're both busy with our careers… I'm just about to start back and trying to make detective, we've got two kids including a six-week-old baby that need attention, and Mom moved out last week. Bear works because he's a cat and self-sufficient."

"But he doesn't play fetch," her husband moaned in disappointment.

"He _does_ play fetch, only at an expert level... he just makes you go get the toy. That means he's a genius. Now is not the time, sorry."

"Says here they have a couple of German Shepherd mixes," Jamie pointedly ignored her as he clicked on the link and scrolled down the available listings anyway, hoping to soften her up. "Aw, look at these ears, lambchop… this one's really cute. His name is Hector, and he's not even that old. I always wanted a Shepherd. The kids should have a dog."

"And not just a dog, he wants a great big, ginormous, furry, double-coated shedding dog," Eddie was muttering more to herself than her husband at the moment, but he was right, he had found a now-recurring topic that was definitely a mood killer. "Honey, the two car seats already take up the entire back," she argued realistically as she searched for reasons against to bolster her case. "Where are we going to put something like that? On the roof rack? Besides, neither of us had one growing up, and we're not emotionally scarred because of it… or on second thought maybe that's exactly what you are," she trailed off and noted the stubborn set of his chin.

"We couldn't. Mom found out she was allergic… at least that's what they told us," he explained with more than a whiff of suspicion that excuse was complete chutzpah in his voice.

"What? That sounds reasonable."

"Right. Did you know Dad ran a dog named Greta in K-9 back in the '80s?" Jamie continued to press anyway since he always held a different theory as to why the Reagan family was petless aside from the strays he himself had brought around and was forced quickly to rehome. "But only that one."

"Why?"

"Said he couldn't cut it."

"Your Dad? Really?"

"Yeah, I'm sure it had nothing to do with Greta being shot and killed by the burglar he sent her in after."

"Oh, that's awful! I didn't know... the poor thing. Well, then let's just leave it at that... he couldn't cut it, and neither can I right now, Jamie. I'm sorry, I am, and please don't give me that pouting, sad puppy-eyed 'I need a dog because my parents deprived me' look again!" she begged with a glance over at his now slumped, defeated posture. "Really? C'mon! It's worse than your 'I haven't had sex with you in eight months, so climb in the backseat' one and it's killing me to say no to that… or both... but it's just not gonna work this time. I can't honestly add anything else to our plate right now. Unless you transfer to K-9 and take the dog with you to work, we can't do it. Maybe when the kids are a little older, and we're more settled with better hours we can talk about it again, I promise. Deal?"

"Okay Ed, I guess you win. I promise I'll let it go for now," Jamie pledged in complete resignation once more as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the headrest. "So that's a solid no for the second thing too?" he tried a last-ditch effort, anyway, with a boatload of pity evident in his voice.

"Well, maybe just until we get home in the driveway," Eddie teased as she couldn't help herself and reached over to run her hand suggestively up his inner thigh which just jump-started everything again as he grabbed her arm in defense.

"You're evil."

"I know it," she agreed before her eyes lit up as she noticed traffic start to move again in front of them. "Alright! Now, that's what I'm talking about!" she exclaimed and put the car in gear. "Here we go! An hour home, and it's just you and me for the rest of the night, baby! No kids, no dogs, no being shy and quiet in front of the mother-in-law!"

"No dice," Jamie added in defeat as the pair watched in disbelief as the red Toyota Civic in front of them with the bumper sticker declaring "Jesus is My Co-Pilot" sped ahead, only solidly to rear end the back of a van when it slammed on its brakes in the stop and go traffic, causing another chain reaction backup around them now that they were in the middle of the bridge and spanning the waterway. "This just gets better and better," he sighed. "Pull over, Janko, and put the four-ways on. She hit pretty hard. We've gotta check to see if they're okay."

"There's broken glass out there on the road, and I'm barefoot in a cocktail dress!"

"Alright, well, then just stay here and call it in at least. I'll get out and see. You have your off-duty piece, right? Can't touch mine, I've been drinking, so watch my six, this van driver looks pissed," he warned as he opened his door the man was getting out of his vehicle gesticulating and shouting wildly at the other car.

"Jamie! Be careful!" Eddie cried as she watched her husband approach the situation while scrambling to find her purse on the floor where her weapon was stored at the same time as using the car's hands-free to call the incident in. "This is off-duty Officer Edit Reagan, badge number 68921..."

* * *

 _Eddie has more to be worried about then she knows as what Jamie finds up ahead will have him seeing red and may just interfere with those romantic rendezvous plans at home for more than only one night._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 _Well in honor of tonight's S9:7 episode and the frisky Sgt. Jamie Reagan depicted in the previews, not to mention our introduction to Lena Janko who seems oddly similar to mommazilla (cough, cough, Eva), I had to get this next chapter up despite a crazy day! Thanks so much for the reviews!_

* * *

"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKIN' LADY? ARE YOU EFFING BLIND?" the enraged van driver thundered as he slammed his hand down on the crumpled hood of the car while he surveyed the damage, which to be fair was minimal to his already aged and rusted relic of a red-striped 1990's Chevrolet high top conversion van, and far more extensive to the little car that had hit it. "YOU'RE GONNA PAY FOR THIS! DO YOU HEAR ME?!"

"Sir, I'm going to need you to calm down!" Jamie ordered as he came alongside the scene and quickly flashed the gold badge at his belt when the larger man turned around to confront him.

"JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, JAMES BOND?" the driver demanded as he took in Jamie's formal attire in a loosened bow tie, white dress shirt, and tuxedo pants.

"Special Investigator, Jamison Reagan, NYPD," Jamie responded evenly with all the authority he could muster as he assessed the situation with an eye to the middle-aged woman in the car who appeared unhurt but seemed slightly dazed after the airbag had deployed.

"Well, Mr. 'Special Investigator,' what'r you gonna do about this? There's nothing to investigate!" the other man continued shouting. "BUTT OUT! THIS IS MY BUSINESS! SHE HIT ME!"

"I know that, but she's not the one out here acting like an ass, so cool it, or I'll have the responding officers charge _you_ with disorderly conduct for starters if you don't ramp it down right now!" Jamie barked as he flashed his light around. "I'm looking at the damage here, sir, and frankly, I don't see where that's going to be worth a trip down to Central Booking and a court appearance considering your van looks as if this wasn't the first time something like this has happened."

"We started moving, and he just slammed on his brakes and stopped in the middle of the bridge," the other driver mumbled a confused explanation as she held her head and fumbled for her phone.

"I PULLED TO THE SIDE!"

"Ma'am," Jamie softened as he addressed the woman in the car. "Just stay put. My wife and I are both NYPD. She's right behind us and already radioed in for additional police and an ambulance, okay? Everything will be fine," he assured even as he looked back and saw Eddie outside and hopping back and forth next to their vehicle, no doubt trying to shove her swollen feet into a relocated and now too-small pair of heels in order to come over and back him up.

"What? More cops are coming?! I ain't stickin' around here for that neither!" the van driver proclaimed with a sudden nervous look and realization as he abruptly turned and headed back for the front of his vehicle, seemingly with intent to drive off before the other unit, whose sirens could now be heard behind them, got there.

"HEY! WAIT! You can face charges for leaving the scene of an accident, too! Up to 90 days in jail for starters!" Jamie declared as he hurried after the man with added suspicion given that reaction and grabbed his arm from behind, mindful of his state and the size difference between them.

"GET OFF OF ME!" the driver thundered and spun around, shoving Jamie hard into the side of the van just in front of the back doors where he lost his balance briefly and wound up leaning against it after taking a bad step with his still-mending leg.

"HEY! HE IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS AN NYPD OFFICER! THAT'S ASSAULT!" Eddie yelled as she finally joined them with her gun at the ready, although still concealed in her purse, and looking slightly less than menacing considering her current state of, well—dress.

"AND WHO ARE YOU, LADY?" the man sneered. "CAGNEY OR LACEY?"

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH, AND JUST STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" Jamie ordered in defense of his wife and banged his hand against the van's panel in frustration while trying to right himself, thoroughly tired of this whole encounter now and almost wishing the uncooperative jackass had successfully gotten back into his vehicle and sped away as this would no doubt soon entail hours of paperwork cutting into that precious me time with his wife he had been longing for. That was until he heard it, a very faint…

...thump, thump, thump.

"What's that?" he demanded, instantly on high alert as the hair on the back of his neck tingled and the now-suspect looked primed to bolt once more. "You've got a passenger? Who else is in the back of that van?"

"NO ONE!" the man snarled as Jamie took a step towards the back doors. "HEY! YOU AIN'T GOT NO GODDAMN BUSINESS IN THERE!"

"Eddie! Hold him!" Jamie directed as she drew her weapon out and leveled it just as their backup arrived in the form of a rookie named Todd Bailey and a sergeant from the 2-3 who luckily knew them both well, so there was no need for formal introductions.

"DON'T MOVE!" she ordered, anyway.

"Well, if it isn't a 12-David reunion from the good old days," Sergeant Bill Barnes, one of their former bosses before a transfer up the line chuckled even as he likewise had his hand on the gun in his holster in case it was needed given the apparent tense situation. "What's going on here Reagans? You guys pulling some kind of black-tie sting together tonight?"

"Just coming home from a wedding, witnessed a minor 10-53 that might have just turned into something else, Sarge," Jamie advised as he banged on the panel again and that faint thump, thump, thump was evident to everyone once more. "He's got someone else in there but refuses to let us see… could be a kid; there might be injuries."

"What's your name?" Sergeant Barnes barked at the driver who had frozen in place with his hands up.

"L-Lyle Thompkins," the man answered with hesitation as despite his previous bravado he was clearly now unnerved at being surrounded and being held at gunpoint, even if it was by a blond woman with an unkempt updo in a cocktail dress on a bridge.

"Well, Mr. Thompkins, who do you have in the back of the van?"

"N-no one, just a dog," the man admitted in what appeared to everyone to be a bald-faced lie.

"A dog. You buying that Reagan?" the sergeant demanded as he took charge of the situation.

"Only one way to be sure," Jamie advised as he put his hand on one of the backdoor latches and yelled. "NYPD! Show yourself if you're able!"

Thump, thump, thump...

"Hey! You need a search warrant!" Thompkins demanded as he took a sudden step forward only to have Eddie reposition her aim and Sergeant Barnes join her with his weapon out. "I got rights!"

"You want us to get a warrant just to see if your dog is okay? Counselor?" Barnes questioned, well aware of Jamie's Harvard Law degree and recent appointment to the NYPD Legal Department.

"Probable cause," Jamie determined although the logic was borderline iffy and could be challenged. "Suspect in a traffic accident is pulled over illegally on a bridge with an unknown and possibly injured passenger or detainee making deliberate contact with officers. Under the automobile exception rule, any vehicle, including boats, may be searched so long as an officer has probable cause to believe the vehicle contains evidence of a crime, the instrumentalities of a crime, contraband, or what reasonably may lead to the commission of a crime," he quoted verbatim.

"Sounds good enough to me, and I don't have a fancy sheepskin from an Ivy League school," Barnes agreed. "Open it. Cover him, Bailey."

"Jamie, be careful," Eddie urged as she watched him pull the door open and gingerly look around the dark corner of the van bed with his flashlight.

"OH, DAMN IT! You've got to be kidding me!" came the angry reaction to whatever was found back there, and after a minute's pause, Jamison Reagan was seeing red and moving faster than he had since his accident as he rounded the corner to put Lyle Thompkins up against the side of the van in a flash. "SERIOUSLY? YOU SICK SON OF A BITCH!"

"REAGAN!" Barnes yelled. "What's he got?"

"Tell them!" Jamie challenged as he was all up in Tompkins' face. "TELL THEM WHAT YOU WERE PLANNING TO DO HERE ON THE BRIDGE!"

"AIN'T NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS! THEY'RE MY PROPERTY!" the van driver retorted.

"NOT ANYMORE!" Jamie shot back before pushing himself away from the other man in apparent disgust.

"Jamie! What is it?" Eddie demanded since few things set her husband off in that manner except for someone hurting children or…

"Puppies," Jamie revealed with his teeth gritted. "Three of 'em tied in a sack with rocks in it. Nothing but skin and bones… covered in fleas. He pulled over to toss them out in the middle of the river, DIDN'T YOU? HUH?"

"I ain't sayin' nothin' more," Tompkins invoked and then immediately opened his mouth anyway and went back on that declaration. "They're sick, and I was just gonna put them down out of their misery," he defended. "I ain't done nothing wrong. You can't prove that."

"New York Agricultural and Markets Law, Section 353-a. Aggravated cruelty to animals," Jamie cited the specific statute from memory once more. "A person is guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals when, with no justifiable purpose, he or she intentionally causes serious physical injury or death to a companion animal with aggravated cruelty... a _felony,"_ he emphasized. "Now, get him out of my sight!"

"You heard him, Bailey," Barnes directed as his rookie took the man into custody and pushed him into the back of their RMP after handcuffing him. "You sure, Reagan?" he asked as he conferred with Jamie. "You know these animal abuse cases get thrown out more than half the time. Odds are he won't do a day, just pay a dime fine... especially 'cause he didn't actually do it."

"Not this one. Just go back there and make sure the other driver is okay, I'll handle this," Jamie vowed as he ran his hands through his hair in a classic stress tell and Eddie joined him at the back of the van to assess the situation. "We gotta document everything, Ed," he advised as he pulled out his phone. "Get pictures of all of it… the bag, the rocks and each of these poor guys," he added as she did as he asked while he carefully removed the tiny, weak, almost skeletal, non-descript breed, light cream, and yellow-colored pups one by one and laid them gently on a blanket where they made little effort to move save for the gentle thump, thump, thump of the smallest one's tail on the floorboards.

"Oh God, Jamie… they don't look good," Eddie worried as her motherly instincts kicked in while she held the light and knew her animal-loving husband was taking the sight hard. "You can see all of their ribs sticking out, and it must have been sweltering in that bag stuffed together in the back of the cargo area in this weather… plus they could have gotten hurt and thrown around in the accident! There's nothing to them! Shouldn't we call Animal Control?"

"Almost all the city shelters close at eight on the weekend," Jamie shook his head. "No one's gonna get out here in time. There's that 24-hour emergency clinic in Brooklyn. We can call ahead and be there in about a half hour if we take the FDR."

"We… you mean like this," Eddie hesitated for just a second of course as she eyed him in his tuxedo remnants and her uncomfortable dress, and then gave in as if she had a choice—their much-anticipated evening as husband and wife alone thrown on the back-burner once more with these three fragile lives on the line. "I'll pull up here; we can toss the car seats in the back so you can ride in with them, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll clear it with Barnes. Just go, Ed," Jamie begged. "I don't think this one's gonna make it much longer," he worried over the smallest pup… the one whose thumping tail had alerted them to their presence but had now stilled.

###

"So, there's like no coffee or anything worthwhile in the vending machine out there," Eddie noted as she tugged down at her hem before sliding into a hard, plastic seat next to her husband in the waiting room of the clinic. A glance at her watch showed it to be just before four-thirty in the morning after they had been there for hours while hoping for better news about the three pups. "Considering they wouldn't even let us in the door without you forking over our platinum credit card, at least they could stock some decent caffeine and sugar," she grumbled even though she was not technically supposed to have the former anyway given that she was still planning on nursing Joey through the next week or so until he was slated to be cleared for attending daycare and she would be returning to work at the 12th precinct. "Jamie, I talked to the receptionist… this place could run over a thousand dollars a day for each of them, even if all they do is give them fluids. That's insane! Who can afford to do that?"

"I know," he lamented as he considered their financial situation which was stable but far from allowing for such extravagant expenses especially since they had both been out of work recently with medical bills of their own and the added responsibility of a growing family. "I'm sorry. The vet here said if it was too much, we might be better off putting them down humanely instead… the shelter would have probably done that already, but I just needed to give them a chance, Ed. I'll find the money… where there's a will, there's a way," he promised.

"I know you'll take care of it," she assured. "That's not really what I'm worried about."

"Well, maybe can get them transferred to Bear's regular vet in the morning if they make it that far," he continued to bargain. "Should be a little cheaper than this place, or one of the no-kill rescues might be able to take them in a few days."

"That's good. They need to find homes though… I don't want you to get too attached, okay? We've got a deal, right? No dogs for now."

"Yeah, I know what I promised before, Ed… but I just had to do this."

"You wouldn't be the boy scout I married if you didn't," she conceded with a sigh as she reached over to peck his cheek with a kiss and grabbed his hand.

"If nothing else, we got their conditions documented so we can charge that bastard to the fullest extent, you know? Barnes texted me; they're doing a sweep of the guy's house and found six more dogs dead or in horrible shape. Looks like a puppy mill type of situation gone bad. The investigator wants a DNA swab because now he's claiming he found them on the side of the road and was just taking them home even though it looks like the mom's laying back in a cage at his house."

"Scumbag. So, anything new on Manny, Mo, and Jack? Do we know what they are at least?"

"Jackie," he corrected. "Two boys and a girl. Best guess is some kind of three- or four-month-old Dachshund mixes except one of the boys only has a nub for a tail, so no idea what the cross could be. Nothing else except that the rapid heartworm tests came back negative at least."

"Well hallelujah for that I guess… although lambchop, I really have no idea what that means," Eddie admitted to him, having never been around any animals except their own cat before. "They get worms in their hearts? Ick."

"Probably a deal breaker at this point," he nodded. "The treatment for that would kill them in the condition they're in."

"Lovely," she sighed as she snuggled into his shoulder to rest her head after wrapping her arm around his elbow. "Well, then it's good the poor things don't have that."

"I'm really sorry I wrecked our night," Jamie apologized again as he returned the favor and leaned in against her. "You should go home to change and get some sleep. I'll wait here."

"And break up Cagney and Lacey?" she scolded as he chuckled at the imagery. "We'll have other nights; besides, we're closer to Mom's here, and I promised to pick the kids up by seven so she can go to work. I have to admit it was kind of fun running a scene with you again… it's been a while. When I heard that thumping, I thought the guy was going to turn out to be some kind of sicko serial killer up there dumping a body… you know the whole classic back of the crappy van scenario, although I guess he sort of was. I'll never understand how someone can be so heartless."

"Kids and animals," Jamie agreed before closing his eyes and fading away for an hour or so of uncomfortable shut-eye. "Hopefully there's a special place in hell waiting for him."

###

"Reagan?" came the inquiry from the doorway that jolted both Eddie and Jamie out of their improvised nap just a short time later. "I'm afraid we have good news and bad news," the overnight vet informed them as she stood there with a folder in her hands.

"W-what is it?" Jamie asked, fearing the worst as he stretched out his cramped neck and stood up while his wife struggled to do the same, a glance at his watch showing they had about a half-hour before it would be necessary for at least one of them to leave and retrieve Kaylin and baby Joey from Eva's new apartment near Prospect Park.

"I'm afraid the little female was far too compromised due to dehydration, heat exhaustion as well as some likely internal injuries she suffered in the crash, and she succumbed a few minutes ago despite all efforts," she informed as their hearts fell.

"Oh, no…" Jamie's shoulders sagged in sadness, and Eddie gave him a comforting squeeze on his hand as she knew it hurt his heart to fail anyone like that, human or non-human made no difference. "Damn."

"Poor little Jackie," she mourned too. "So, we didn't get her here in time?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Wait, but you said there was good news?" Jamie hopefully added as he caught on to the second part of the announcement.

"Yes, the two males were much stronger and have already responded very well to being cooled down, tubed with fluids and appear to be stabilized. We've treated their external parasites, they've started drinking on their own and show interest in food, although that has to be introduced very slowly in small, frequent amounts, so their systems aren't overwhelmed," she warned. "Considering it's the weekend, and it appears that's all that really needs to be done, I think it's possible for them to receive adequate care at home with a follow-up at your own vet to continue treatment if you're willing. Otherwise, they'll have to stay here until I release them to Animal Control on Monday and then they'll go to an overcrowded city shelter. That's dangerous in their condition, as you know since they will likely only be given a five-day hold before there is the risk of euthanasia. I've written out everything that's needed. I understand cost is a consideration since you two are just good Samaritans footing the bill."

"Really? We can take them home?" Jamie perked up immediately like an eager child even as Eddie considered the ramifications of letting both her soft-hearted husband and a certain little blond-headed girl form attachments to the two remaining little creatures.

"Jamie, wait!" she played the only other card she knew might make him hesitate and think twice. "What about Bear?!"

* * *

 _Poor Eddie, her heart's in the right place, but she might just find herself outnumbered now as a preoccupied husband, a dedicated preschooler, a baby, two young puppies needing round-the-clock care and an unhappy big cat make life interesting for our lovebirds back at the home in Bay Ridge. Next, our story continues as they struggle to find time to make that needed connection, until she decides to take things into her own hands, so to speak. Maybe Jamie's not the only frisky one, lol._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Jamison Reagan, don't you dare so much as breathe heavy or make another sound!" Eddie hushed her husband with a whisper practically inside his eardrum two days later when she could stand it no longer, and he was awoken abruptly in the middle of the night after what seemed like just a sparse nap to find her aggressively climbing on top of him in their bed. "I can't take it anymore!"

"Ed… wha… humph!" he mumbled as her hand clamped down over his mouth when he failed to follow up on her directive.

"Not a peep I said!" she repeated in a soft hiss to remind him of the necessary efforts to remain undetected from one pair of floppy ears in particular. "He'll hear you!"

"He who?" he questioned noiselessly after giving her a directed look promising to mind this time, and she let go of his mouth before her lips crashed into his without another second's delay, seeking his tongue as her hands started roaming over his body, making short work under the covers of finding the waistband of his boxers and pushing them down and off to the side, her objective for this stealthy mission perfectly clear now.

"Who?! Him who!" she huffed in contempt around her demanding, hungry kisses while they continued to communicate on virtual radio silence before he reached behind her back to unclasp the wrap nursing sleep bra she was forced to wear to bed for comfort as her well-endowed assets had become even more so since taking on the task of breastfeeding and they spilled out in front of him as the undergarment was likewise tossed aside. She burrowed further into his neck with a series of passionate, wet, yearning attacks that had him instantly aroused as his hands found those longed-for prizes and then guided them toward his lips.

"Oh, God… Ed!" he cried out in passion anyway in spite of her demands as she hovered above and her hand quickly ushered him towards her warmth, desperate for him to part it and join her inside once more after all these months of making do with less by way of intimacy. Jamie's heart raced and in the heat of the moment he instantly forgot himself, where he was, and who else was around to hear them as both had been primed and ready to forgo the notion of chocolates and romance for days if not months now in lieu of just plain satisfying the primal urges that had brought them together in the first place and later created baby Joey.

"Shhh!" she tried to silence him before the moment was ruined yet again, but it was too late as evident by the now-familiar thump, thump, thump heard against the side of the spare pack-and-play on the far wall of their bedroom which had been confiscated from the unused stash of baby shower gifts and repurposed to protect and confine two now-alert and vocal puppies who were not shy about making their presence known or using those voices to disrupt all order in the house.

"BARK! BARK! BARK!" came the eager, sharp, ear-splitting chorus from the pair of little brown-eyed faces that now peered excitedly and intermittently over the edge of the pen, suspended above dancing and bouncing spring-laden white-footed feet. The one with the longer tail, in particular, appeared well-versed in overcoming vertical challenges and he soon jumped the soft wall in a bound, was across the floor and immediately hopped up on the bed, over the covers and shoved in between them licking Jamie's face with all the passion his wife had just displayed as she was quick to curse this interference in their intimate moment once more.

"OH, SON OF A…"

"DADDY!" came the cry from down the hall as Kaylin's feet could be heard hitting the ground at the sound of her two newest little charges—having already exceeded her father's dedication to their needs no matter the hour and proving herself to be quite the nursemaid in their recovery.

"THE PUPPIES ARE 'WAKE!" she announced while running down the hall with a flashlight already in hand as if every other living being in the house was unaware of that fact including her baby brother who was now adding his own irritated cries into the mix while she rounded the corner of the doorway and charged into the bedroom, finding her still naked and embarrassed parents already well-hidden and tucked under the covers aside of one another before she even arrived. "THE PUPPIES ARE 'WAKE!" she sounded off and repeated once more to reminded them of the required housebreaking duties. "TIME TO GO OUTSIDE FOR 'EM TO PEE! Oopsie, too late for 'im!" she warned as the second and less coordinated pup finally managed to heave himself to freedom with a belly flop to the ground where he decided to leave a little puddle on the hardwood in his excitement right next to Eddie's discarded bra. "Mommy's not s'posed to 'ave laundry on the floor," she scolded in his defense.

"It's all right," Jamie sighed in defeat as he and his wife were thwarted in the bedroom yet again. "Sweetness, just try calling Nubs downstairs and go wait in the kitchen," he advised. "I'll be there in a second and we'll take them both outside to do their business and get a little something for their tummies to hold them over until morning, okay?"

"Okey dokey, Daddy," Kaylin agreed with his plan and set off on her assigned task with her personal favorite pup following close behind at her heels like a shadow, and an irate cat hissing his displeasure from down the hall at having his given place as her guardian in the family dynamic challenged.

"J-a-m-i-s-o-n," Eddie spoke evenly in a painfully slow, extended fashion, as she stared straight up at the ceiling, having now met the absolute limit of her patience in this matter which had seen a near constant state of chaos in the household over the entire weekend. On top of everything else Bear had declared an all-out war on these two canine interlopers, and they, in turn, had decided to gang up as a pack vocally on him whenever he was spotted which was less than ideal with a young and easily woken baby in the house.

"Yeah, I got it, Ed," Jamie admitted with regret as he removed the first enthusiastically full-body wagging pup from on top of his chest to put it on the floor and reached over to the bedside chair to snag a pair of sweatpants and a tee to pull on before getting up and tending to the nub-tailed brother's latest oopsie. "I'll take care of them and get Joey and Kaylin back to sleep. You just relax, lambchop. I know I'm asking a lot since you'll be home alone with them for the next few days, but I promise to make some phone calls in the morning when I get to the office and see if I can find a good place that will take them by the end of the week, okay? We just have to work it out until then. It seems like they're bouncing back really fast with a little TLC."

"Bouncing, yup, that's pretty much all they do now," Eddie griped as the loose puppy pinged up and down against Jamie's leg in eight pounds of pure, happy excitement—this one with the tail already completely bonded with his perceived savior and never allowing another person to get between them or letting him out of his sight without throwing himself on the ground and crying like an infant. "I just don't want to be the bad guy here," she added in guilt and with more than a small bit of jealousy, knowing that no matter what both Kaylin and her husband would be just as crushed to lose these little ones now.

"You're not," Jamie honestly stated as he reached over to offer an assuring apologetic kiss. "Don't think that, Ed. You've been really great about everything, and I made sure Kaylin knew up front we had a deal, so she's on board. I'll stick with it… it's not like it's the first time I've had to do this," he vowed although it was hard to deny the little pint-sized puppy now tugging at his pants had tugged at his heart like no other one in the past, but a promise was a promise, and his wife had been more than accommodating through all this considering the circumstances. "We haven't even named them for real… just Wags and Nubs to tell them apart," he tried to convince. "Remember, where there's a will…"

"There had _better_ be a way," she warned in frustration considering a certain someone's needs had still not been met before rolling over to get up and at least do her part to go settle baby Joey back to sleep before something else triggered all of this to start over again.

###

"And how goes it with the puppies, sir?" Detective Abigail Baker questioned her boss with a raised eyebrow that Friday since the talk around the water cooler on the 14th floor for the last several days had revolved around the newest Reagan family additions as word spread about Jamie's predicament, which at this time remained unchanged. "Seems your son's been a busy man of late. How does Officer Reagan feel about that considering there's a baby in the house?" she asked while sitting in the Commissioner's office with DCPI Garrett Moore going over the next week's schedule.

"Eddie's been a good sport, but she's holding him to task, as she should. There's too much going on in their lives right now with a seven-week-old for another addition... or two," Frank asserted honestly from what he knew of the young couple's predicament. "They're too disruptive as a pair and play off each other… once one starts barking, the other one does, and then all hell breaks loose, especially when they see the cat, and Bear has seniority," he explained. "That's why Jamie's so anxious to find them new homes, especially since she's due to start back to work at the 12th after next week."

"No chance of you or Commissioner Reagan adding on to the immediate family, then," Baker kidded lightheartedly at first, not knowing she was about to open a can of worms, and doubting that either of the older men were eager to take on the responsibilities of an active pet given their age, Frank's busy schedule and the fact that there were two very new human babies named Joseph and Kitty Elise for them to dote on now. "I heard that Kaylin is taking on quite a dedicated role in the training, though. From what Jamie told me today she already has them housebroken for the most part and obeying simple commands. I'm surprised she hasn't been able to change your mind."

"No, she hasn't, and this is not the first time we've gone through this, nor probably the last," Frank acknowledged with a heavy sigh as he signed some paperwork and sought to distance himself from his son's predilection from accumulating strays, which hadn't changed since he was a youngster—an uncomfortable subject even after all these years now made worse by the fact his little persuasive granddaughter had now been brought into it. "Jamie's always had a knack for finding something or someone in need and thinks he can save every puppy in the pound... literally and figuratively."

"Not exactly a damning quality," Moore noted. "Yet it always seems to be something that bothers you whenever it comes up again though."

"No, it's not a character flaw unless you consider that each time we'd warn him he couldn't keep whatever it was that followed him home, and then watch him spend hours and hours rehabilitating and training them… putting everything he had into it in the hope we would change our minds until Mary and I were forced to be the bad guys and put our foot down hard and say no again… then he'd give us that look like we broke his heart and we'd have to scramble to help find another permanent home to make that go away. Considering we didn't own any pets, we certainly spent enough money nursing them back to health over the years when his allowance wasn't enough," he griped.

"And why is that?" Garrett chimed in on a topic he had touched on in the past but was not well known among the rest of the Commissioner's staff. "You never kept even one? I mean a man that takes the time to train for and pass the rigorous NYPD K-9 program back in his day must have some sort of soft spot for dogs. You would have had to take your partner home with you," he observed.

"Really, sir?" Baker questioned as she had never heard that before. "Why didn't you stay with the unit?"

"Couldn't cut it," Frank stuck with the old standby excuse that had served him well over the years whenever the painful topic came to light and looked up while offering his DCPI a heavy frown for his insolence as he closed the folder on his desk with more-than-necessary deliberate force.

"Ask him if the name Greta means anything to him," Garrett continued to press anyway as he knew to would be far more difficult for his boss to brush the topic away with his personal assistant on it like a dog to a bone, so to speak. "It's also my job to know things," he explained to her.

"Greta, sir?" Baker complied as the pair continued the inquiry and kept Frank on the hot seat.

"My partner," he stated the obvious with a deep sigh.

"Just the one, sir?"

"Only one, and that has nothing at all to do with Greta being shot and killed by the burglar he sent her in after," Garrett filled in the last piece of the puzzle with his usual dry sarcasm.

"So that's why you never let your son keep one of his rescues," Baker concluded as they hit the nail on the head—the reason for all this was Frank's own guilt and regret over what happened to his canine partner when it came to animals, dogs in particular it seemed.

"Understandable, sir," she noted with sympathy.

"Let's just leave it at that… I couldn't cut it, and Mary was allergic," he insisted uncomfortably even if the latter was an excuse that needed to be brought up in confession each time it was used since it was wholly untrue. Mary had witnessed her husband's hidden grief over the Greta incident and decided to give him a convenient out when it initially came to explaining why her seemingly tougher-than-nails-on-the-job husband had washed out of the department's K-9 program. "I know you're not gonna let this go, but that's the way it was."

"And today, sir? You still seem eager for Jamie to change even though that's what's made him such a good patrol officer over the years… that ability to care for everyone no matter what their station in life is. It seems to me that it's just the way he's built, something hardwired into his DNA perhaps," Baker replied since it was obvious these traits had come from his parents. "He just always wants to set things right… even if it's for two abused and neglected puppies."

"I don't want him to change," Frank realized as some of the roots behind his feelings came to light, and he adjusted his stance on his youngest son. "Well, I don't want him to change that much, anyway, but there are things I admire about him that this job will eat away at until they are gone with an attitude like that. Because of that, I had misgivings when he decided to become a cop. Still do," he admitted. "He always wants it to turn out right every time. Doesn't happen. Never has, never will. Nothing does. That's why his mother steered him toward being a lawyer in a courtroom where things are more civil, and why maybe I've always fought him when he's tried to do something like this because he's never learned that lesson."

"And this time, sir?" Baker inquired.

"This time for the sake of family sanity I'm going to have to help him out of it... again," Frank admitted reluctantly as he now had the impetus to follow through with a plan that had been formulating in his mind all week since he had seen the puppies. His previous K-9 experience told him that with their apparent high intelligence and drive characteristics, they had the tools and could be fostered with the correct training into successfully motivated working dogs. That would undoubtedly satisfy Jamie and Kaylin's insistence that the little ones be safely placed in good homes, restore peace with Eddie, solve a budgetary deficit and perhaps just give Garrett some good PR ammunition to show the NYPD in a good light all in one fell swoop.

It was almost too good to be true, actually.

"I know someone who owes me a favor. Get me Sergeant Patricia Donohue from K-9 on the phone," he ordered.

"Donohue? Isn't that Raymond's handler? She's a sergeant now?" Garrett questioned as he knew his boss had taken a particular interest in the dog and his female partner when it was falsely accused of biting an eight-year-old boy a few years previously.

"She is, and Raymond was officially retired from duty last month," Frank informed him. "The dog she was training to replace him was rejected halfway through the program due to an injury, and with budget cuts, there won't be any funds left to purchase another from the breeder in Belgium we are contracted with until the start of the next fiscal year. Donohue's been assigned to observe other programs with the FBI and the Connecticut State Police in the meantime to see if any of their methods would be useful to the unit here."

"And you have something in mind, sir?" Baker asked as clearly her boss was going somewhere with this now.

"Both the FBI and CSP have just started using electronic-detection dogs to sniff out a chemical used to cool the chips on just about any electronic device that stores memory. They spend about four weeks imprinting them on that scent. The dogs can find anything like that regardless of how well it's hidden. It's been proven to be a big help in conducting search warrants since they can detect thumb drives in earrings, cufflinks, pens, you name it," Frank added. "The drives are tiny and are getting smaller, so it's already difficult for a human to find some of those devices, and the dogs can search a person, home or office quickly and efficiently… saving a lot of man-hours and missed evidence."

"So, they'd be useful in investigations including counterintelligence, and child pornography," Garrett surmised as he considered some of the potential applications. "You think these puppies could do it?" he asked, already eagerly envisioning the headlines proclaiming the NYPD's use of the two little Reagan family rescues in this important work. "The shepherds we get for patrol work run, what… ten or fifteen grand a piece by the time they've gone through basic training?"

"Twenty-five at the very least, and there are no guarantees. We were always told for detection pretty much the kind of dog you need is one that might not be a good house pet, and that the best ones are sort of strong-willed and a pain in the ass to live with. From what I've seen, these two certainly have the right temperament to try, and Kaylin already has them searching for toys she's hidden as a game," Frank nodded. "Let's get Sergeant Donohue's opinion and go from there," he decided before placing the call.

* * *

 _Next, the last two chapters will wrap everything up for Series II in this fun little segue as the puppies' fates are decided while Jamie and Eddie make another effort or two to reconnect physically—perhaps the backseat of a certain Chevelle might even look tempting if things get desperate, lol._

 _Also checking in with my peeps in CA, I know a lot of you are affected by the terrible fires again. Thinking of you all and praying for your safety. I wish I could send some of the East Coast rain your way._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"I can't thank you enough for this, Frank," his newest daughter-in-law sighed in utter relief as the two sat next to each other on the deck and watched over the backyard as Sergeant Donohue's assessment of the puppies' detection dog potential was apparently going very well. The little pair was batting a thousand when it came to the various playtests they had been subjected to with Jamie and Kaylin's rapt attention and assistance of course. In fact, Eddie had nearly wept with joy when her husband had returned home the day before with news of his father's plan after spending a week home alone during the day with their current menagerie of children and pets.

"Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, but Patricia looks pleased," he acknowledged as the officer made her way towards them while the pups were rewarded with more fun time and Jamie was apparently having "the" talk with his daughter given her despondent body language as he was sitting in the grass with his arm around her shoulders delivering the bad news.

"Commissioner," Donohue approached with a smile as she clearly loved her work and it showed in her training methods. "I think you might be onto something here. As you know, it's not an exact science, perhaps more of an art to finding the right dog with the right nose for that type of highly specialized job. These two have definitely shown not only natural talent but also a high drive and a penchant for persistence which is exactly what we need to see."

"Really?" Eddie questioned even though it was absolutely what she was hoping to hear, knowing that Jamie, and eventually Kaylin, could be on board with this solution since the pups would be well cared for and ultimately still under Frank's purview. "I mean I thought police dogs have to be disciplined… and these two are not so much that," she admitted with a raised eyebrow.

"Detection requires a totally different animal," the K-9 sergeant explained. "While the patrol dogs need size and physicality as well as the inherent ability to be willing instantly to obey any command from their handler, for sniffer dogs a forceful personality is essential. We don't need a dog that's going to say, 'Okay, whatever you want.' We need what is called 'trained disobedience,'" Donohue added. "The dogs are conditioned through a reward system to stay focused on finding the source of the scent, regardless of what the human handler is doing. These dogs have to be more like, 'I'm not listening to you because I'm doing my job.' Because of that any breed, including a rescue, is a potential detection dog, depending on personality, olfactory ability, and trainability. For electronics, the dogs are proving to be reliably imprinted in about four weeks because the chemical used is very distinct. Cadaver dogs might take two or three years to become proficient since they have a higher degree of scents to process in many different environments."

"So, this is a good project for you," Frank noted. "Since you're between patrol partners and it will be at least four months before you'll be assigned another to train."

"Yes, sir," Donohue eagerly nodded as she accepted the challenge. "With your permission, I'd very much like to give this a try. The CSP course I observed was very successful."

"And this would be safe for them, right?" Eddie questioned since although she was eager to see these two little hellions off to a good home, she had grown somewhat attached and didn't want to put them in any danger.

"Well, there's always an element of risk in any investigation as you know," Donohue acknowledged. "But this is far more controlled than say, the explosives unit. Mostly they would be used for searching occupied homes and offices under a warrant."

"Okay, then when would they start?" was the next question as the upcoming week was Eddie's last on maternity leave since Joey had been cleared by the pediatrician to attend daycare and she wanted to enjoy it in peace with her new son, husband, and Kaylin.

"The sooner, the better so I can finish them before taking on another patrol dog in the next class. I mentioned to Jamie that I could take them with me today so they would become acclimated over the weekend. I would start the initial training and then pair one of them up with another handler once it's clear things are going well," she revealed. "He's explaining that to Kaylin now," she admitted a bit sadly with guilt at disappointing the little girl by taking her beloved charges away before adding. "Even at this age, it's clear your granddaughter has a gift for this work, sir."

"Oh no, not another one!" Frank immediately rebuffed while shaking his head, adamant that he would not have another follow in his son's footsteps. "She's going to end up in the courtroom if I have anything to say about it!" he vowed before he and Eddie got up to go comfort a heartbroken father and daughter while they said goodbye to their two little friends.

###

"Finally."

Eddie's sense of contentment was wrapped up in that single word as she stood in the doorway of the couple's bathroom that night with both kids successfully tucked into their own beds before she paraded out in a new, sexy sheer nightie in front of her husband with the goal of making him completely forget his and Kaylin's heartache over the now empty playpen standing in the far corner of the room.

"Damn," came the awed reply that let her know her efforts were appreciated and on the mark as Jamie's bright, hazel eyes were filled with the beautiful sight of his wife wearing something that left so little to the imagination. "I mean _damn,_ Ed," he added as he sat up and admired the pure beauty of her form before reaching out with one thing on his mind now just as she'd hoped.

"Well thank you, kind sir," his wife acknowledged with satisfaction that she could still turn his head in that manner so soon post-baby as she flaunted her way up to the bed with every intention of having him remove her little prop at the earliest possible moment before anything else could stop them.

"C'mere, lambchop," he drew her onto his lap and made short work of running his hands up inside her camisole to caress the soft, bare skin of her back while a trailing line of kisses down her neck elicited soft moans of desire from his wife who was no longer afraid to be a little more vocal in displaying her pleasure now that they were alone in the room behind a closed door. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world… always will be to me," he whispered before picking her up and standing to turn and lay her back down across the bed before him, taking his time to work over her, touching and exciting all of her points with his hands and his mouth despite his overwhelming desire to strip her completely of the sheer fabric at once so that nothing was between them anymore. With both now thoroughly worked to the edge of no return it seemed, his hands slipped behind her lace panties to draw them down and expose her state of exquisite readiness when their efforts were suddenly halted unkindly once more by a knock on the door, tug on the locked latch and a small voice that instantly drew everything to an end.

"Mommy? Daddy? Open p'ease! Miss my puppies so much... me can't s'eep!" Kaylin lamented as her services were no longer needed and she cried once more over their loss in a pitiful, worried voice that could not be ignored by either parent with so much as a sliver of a conscience left.

"Thirty seconds," Jamie moaned with utter defeat in a similar fashion as he dropped his head and collapsed down over his wife. "That's all I needed… maybe less," he admitted honestly, the moment stolen from them once more in another cruel twist of fate.

"Definitely less," his wife countered with a sad huff when the feeling left her as the jiggle of the lock became more insistent. "Are we being punished?"

"As in no good deed?" he relented and pushed himself off to get dressed as Kaylin's sobs were becoming more apparent and they could hear her slide down to the floor to settle in for the duration. "Sure feels that way sometimes," he added dejectedly before walking over to open the door and pick up his daughter while Eddie made a hasty retreat into the bathroom to get dressed into something more appropriate. "C'mon, sweetness, now we can't be like this," he gently chided as she cried into his neck while he brought her into the room. "Nubs and Wags are in a really good home now with Sergeant Patty, right?" he tried to convince with the same words and logic that had been used against him numerous times before. "They liked her and have a big, important job to do. Grandpa promised you no matter what that he would make sure she's taking the very best care of them."

"But 'em like me better and me misses 'em," she continued anyway with enormous tears sliding down from her light blue eyes and Jamie cursed the circumstances and his own actions again that had brought pain to his young daughter like this.

"I know, baby, but Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you for all you did. You helped save their lives, and now they can help other people by doing a good job. Sometimes we have to do things that are right like that, even if it makes us a little sad when they leave, okay?" he added, recalling her cries from earlier in the day when they said their goodbyes and watched Sergeant Donohue pull away in her car with two new reluctant students aboard in their kennels. "I promise one day when they're all settled, we'll stop in and see them, but for now we have to let them get used to living and working with her, alright?"

"'Kay, Daddy," Kaylin conceded as she laid her head down tiredly on his neck while Eddie made her way out of the bathroom and paused to give the little girl a comforting kiss and take her up in her arms. "Me s'eep 'ere with you tonight, Mommy?" she begged in a tiny, sad voice that could not be refused.

"Of course, you can, baby," Eddie assured even as she received the same broken look from her husband knowing that another night would pass now without that intimate moment that continued to elude them. "Sometimes we have to do things that are right like that, even if it makes us a little sad," she frowned and used his own words against him.

* * *

 _Poor Jamie, he's really getting put through the wringer this time as all kinds of urges go unmet. I've been cruel, but it's time to end this, give the poor guy a break and let him have what he's been looking for all along. Last chapter and some surprises up next!_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"C'mon, Ed… ten minutes," Jamie whispered in the dark, predawn hours after having not slept a wink all night between thinking about those unmet urges over the soft little snores and kicking feet of his restless daughter as she dozed between them and hogged the covers. "You and me in the backseat… you were up for it last Friday night before all of this started," he pleaded. "We can hear everything out there from the baby monitor."

"Why can't we just go downstairs?" she whispered back in a similar state as, despite her needs, the thought of leaving her babies in the house alone even for a few minutes was too unsettling.

"Because you ruined _that_ for me with all those stories about Pop and Grandma in front of the fireplace!" he hissed and recalled Henry's recent extended walk down memory lane while recovering from his pacemaker surgery. That serious, days-long family history lesson had revealed all types of sorted and unsettling truths about his elders' lives together in this very house including a few that contained a bit too much information for Jamie's comfort and taste.

"Well, this was _their_ bedroom, Harvard… don't you think they did it in here too?" she shot back incredulously.

"Stop it!" he moaned as for whatever reason that thought had never occurred to him before either. "Do you _ever_ want to make love to me in this house again? We're going to have to move soon if you keep this up!"

"You're the one that already wants to go outside," she reminded with a huff. "Besides the car seats are in the back, and it takes forever to get them in and out. We need them to go to church in the morning. What about the spare room? There's a bed at least."

"Where your _Mom_ slept for the last six months? Are you serious?"

"Well, it's not like she's in there right now!" Eddie pointed out the obvious even though she knew her husband had a bashful sex drive when it came to any mere mention of his mother-in-law being in the know.

"How about the hammock?" he bargained just seconds before the sounds of a moderate middle-of-the-night rain shower suddenly pinged against the window with distant flashes of silent cloud lightning and took the possibility of a compromise on the back deck off the table.

"We _are_ being punished," she was convinced and collapsed back on the pillows.

"The Chevelle," he reached in desperation now that it was parked in the shed behind the house while giving no thought at all to the sweltering stuffiness that would surround them out there in the middle of this heatwave considering the small, closed space.

"Where your Mom and Dad got caught together steaming up the windows by the river?" she turned the tables and reminded him of one of the other tales that had been told. "You want one of those car stories put on us when the neighbors call the cops? I don't think so, buster," she warned as that was immediately shot down before he sat up suddenly on the side of the bed in unrepressed frustration. "Where are you going now?" she asked.

"Cold shower," he answered sullenly given the necessity of that in recent weeks while they had waited for her to be cleared from the extended pre- and postpartum moratoriums on sex before the perfect solution to their problem presented itself as he raised an eyebrow at the doorway to the bathroom in front of him. "Or a _hot_ one," he teased back as his heart thump… thump… thumped… of course, why hadn't that occurred to him before? _Mom and Dad probably did more than just fight in there when they didn't want the kids to hear what was going on,_ he reasoned to himself.

"Ooh," Eddie started as she caught on and was immediately on board with that plan. "I _am_ feeling a little dirty, Mr. Reagan," she flirted back shamelessly. "Maybe you could soap me up."

"What kind of husband would I be if I didn't help you out with that, forthwith?" he whispered before instantly getting up and making his way over to her side of the bed, carefully scooping her into his arms and grabbing the baby monitor off the nightstand in one smooth motion so not to disturb the little interloper who had taken over their bed. It took just seconds from the time the bathroom door was closed and locked for steam to start rising from more than just the shower as it was flipped on and clothing began to drop from their bodies in record speed—this time they were not to be denied.

"God, Jamie," Eddie moaned out loud as he was intent on wasting no opportunity before pressing her hard up against the tile wall, demanding more as the water and his mouth ran over her breasts and down her body, driving everything else from her mind before suddenly he was there in the place inside where he belonged as all the trials and worries of the past months disappeared and were washed away as if they had never happened—the sole reminders in the scars that he bore over his body from the accident now likewise starting to fade and be forgotten as her hands gently caressed them more like badges of honor for what they could overcome together rather than remembrances of the pain that had been endured. They were one again, and that's all that would ever matter in this lifetime. "Please don't stop… ever. I love this so much," she added as they fell into a rhythm.

"Mm… I think I love it more," came the throaty reply of a determined husband on a singular mission now as every other thought had left him. Barring the house burning down around them, there would be no pausing this time until they both cried out softly in the same instant they had been longing for again as the release came inside for both, their hearts pounding, and bodies pressed up against one another as a wave of passion continued between them for what felt like a blissful eternity before he finally took a breath and a moment to relax. "God, I needed that," he admitted honestly as the rush of endorphins soothed his mind and soul and the hot water ran down his back. "You're perfect."

"You know what I think?" Eddie trailed off with a little laugh when she could speak again as he continued to kiss and touch, still hungry for this closeness and unwilling to be parted even after the moment had finally been met for both.

"That your husband is a stud," he murmured in her ear even as he reluctantly left her before pulling the shampoo down from the shelf to begin working that intoxicating French vanilla scent into her hair and down over her curves, not ruling out the possibility of a round two if a certain little girl and baby boy continued to cooperate. "Or that I'm stupid because I should have thought of this before?"

"No… it's just that you… you always do that," Eddie admitted as she brushed his hair back and looked up into his eyes. "You take care of everyone else first no matter what… you're never selfish. I mean we could have done this for you all along, but you wouldn't and spent months denying yourself because you wanted the first time to be special between us after everything that happened and if I couldn't then it wasn't the same."

"Well, now we don't have to worry about that," he assured and remained focused on the moment, oblivious to her intent as he pulled her back under the water and kissed her while the suds ran down through her long hair and away through the drain between their toes.

"But I feel like I _have_ been selfish," she whispered and looked down with guilt, seemingly determined to have another one of these infuriating little interruptive nighttime chitchats while standing naked and wet together in the shower after a round of the best… well, the _only_ sex in recent memory.

"What do you mean, Ed?" he puzzled with a sigh as he gave into the fact it was evidently going to continue and nudged her chin back up to search through her eyes. "You weren't allowed, and you just had a baby with pregnancy complications before that. You did all that and risked your own life for our son… our family… that's the most unselfish thing I can think of."

"No, not about that," she assured as even at this seemingly inopportune time she felt the need to get something off her chest that had kept her awake all night. "I'd do all of that and more for our kids… you know I would die in a heartbeat for them or you, Jamie. But there's just one thing that you've always wanted, and everyone else always made you give up before, even if it broke your heart. You had it… I know that little dog was completely bonded to you, and I made you do the same thing because I didn't want to be bothered or have to deal with anything else right now. I was more worried about leaving Joey and going back to work because I was thinking of _myself_ and _my_ career… You let him go without a fight because you made a promise, and that was selfish of me and wrong. I couldn't sleep all night thinking about it especially because I know you're just as sad as Kaylin is, and I'm really sorry."

"It's okay," he whispered with a faint smile tracing the corner of his mouth while he thought of the missing little four white-footed buddy who had indeed tugged at his heart this time like no other and the mood was broken as he turned the shower off before pulling a warm, thick towel from the rack to wrap around her. Maybe it was better to be tougher and forget about such things for now just like his father had always warned him, especially given the fact that it was affecting his daughter so much too. "Now's not the time; you were right. It'll work out when the kids are older. That would be better like you said. I don't want to stress you out, and we have to think of Joey when he's this young."

"You're doing it again though… not being selfish," she pointed out. "I just want you to know if the opportunity comes up again, I'll support you all the way, and that's a promise, lambchop," Eddie vowed as she likewise dried him off. "Maybe we could even go to that Just Muttz place in Manhattan when Kaylin is over what's happened, and we get into a routine again. You said they had a lot of seniors and an older dog that's been around the block a few times would be easier for us now," she offered as a compromise. "They might still even have that shepherd mix you saw on their website last week like you've always wanted," she tried to hearten after cursing herself for bringing this all up again, especially here and now. "Wasn't his name Hector or something?"

"Maybe," he conceded softly with no real intent to follow through now that the recurrent hurt from his childhood was fresh again. "You never know... look, Ed, I appreciate what you're saying, but we don't have to talk about this now," he added before drawing his sweatpants and shirt back on in an obvious attempt to put an end to the discussion. "Let's just go back to bed before Kaylin wakes up, okay?"

"Oh, c'mon," she sighed with deep regret at what had been asked of him as she followed her husband out into the bedroom since it was obvious now that this had perhaps been the final straw. "I didn't mean to upset you again. Where's my always-optimistic boy scout? Remember, where there's a will, there's a…"

###

"I'm afraid there's no way, sir," Sergeant Donohue admitted with regret after a hastily called meeting in the Commissioner's office a few days later. "I can't keep both. The two together have established a sort of pack mentality at home, and they're harassing Raymond," she revealed as her former canine partner had of course been retired to her care and after his service certainly deserved to spend his last years in dignified peace. "He's a good dog, but he's not going to take much more of it. When they're separated the short-tailed one we've named Rickie for Officer Richard Anderson out of the 7-2 who passed from cancer last year," she referenced the K-9 division's long-held tradition for honoring fallen men and women in blue in that manner. "He carries on fine about things and has proven to have excellent focus and work ethic for me. I think he'll be an outstanding electronics sniffer, but the other one seems to be pining and shuts down. He's not even eating. I've tried having him run for some different handlers, but there's been no change. I think…" she paused. "I think without his littermate he's lost and just really misses your son and granddaughter."

"Of course," Frank acknowledged with a heavy sigh as he got up from his desk to go over to his favored window spot to look down over the city and contemplate a solution for this dilemma, having on his honor promised Kaylin that Grandpa would make sure her two little friends were well cared for. "Your recommendation?" he asked while nervously chewing his lip and failing himself to come up with anything other than the obvious.

"It would be a shame not to utilize his talents, sir," Donohue admitted. "Between the two he might even have the stronger nose, but in reality, we probably only need one full-time dog in this capacity to cover the daily searches that might come up across the city for now. If Jamie was willing to follow through the short course of training over the next few weeks, which is only an hour or so a day, and we could get them certified, he could serve as a backup just for those few occasions where there is a big multi-location warrant that calls for more than one dog. Since your son is in Legal, plus teaching at the academy now and working with the FBI… it may be that this dog could be just as helpful in educating those departments to these new tools at our disposal."

"If Jamie was willing," Frank huffed as he considered the lengths his son had gone through before this only to be denied. "You say they're calmer apart?" he asked while thinking about how this might play out to a daughter-in-law who had not been in favor of adding another pet to the household—still, there was that promise to a particular little blue-eyed girl to consider.

"Very much so," Sergeant Donohue eagerly admitted and sensed she might have been able to sell her plan while also thinking of Kaylin and the talent she had shown for this kind of work even at this young age. "Entirely different animals."

"Alright," he conceded. "Bring… what's this one's name?"

"It's Will, sir… for Officer William O'Rourke out of the 2-6. A traffic accident on duty in 2015."

"Bring… let's go with William instead," Frank ordered as he had known O'Rourke personally and was well aware of the fact the man had detested the shorter version of his name. "Bring William back here forthwith, and I'll present your plan to Eddie and Jamie myself. Dismissed," he added as Sergeant Donohue saluted with a satisfied smile and took her leave, passing DCPI Garrett Moore with a nod in the doorway.

"Trouble in paradise?" Moore questioned with concern as he had just finished up with the first draft of a press release regarding the NYPD's little rescue endeavor and had dug up an interesting bit of trivia during his research that he wanted to share. "Don't tell me our experiment is off the rails… we were looking at a week's worth of positive media, Frank," he lamented. "Nothing tugs the heartstrings like kids and puppies."

"No, just a slight change in plans," his boss revealed before explaining the situation and the fact that it was entirely likely a Reagan would once again play at least a small part of the NYPD K-9 unit. "You had something else for me?"

"Right, well, it's related," Garrett admitted. "I reached out to Sergeant Barnes of the 2-3 to follow up on the case against the guy that was going to throw the dogs off the bridge in the first place. He took a plea deal for two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals… felonies for the dead dog they found starved at his house and the puppy that died, plus some lesser charges for the rest when he was looking at eight hard counts with a possibility of two years for each had they gone to trial."

"A win, I suppose," Frank offered knowing how often these types of crimes went under punished. "What made him plead out?"

"The DNA tests came back on the dead dog and one of the others at his home showing these three puppies were closely related to them, most likely the mother and father, so that disproved his claim he had just picked them up on the road since the odds of coming across a similar match are astronomically bad. I guess in dogs it's quicker to do a more familial test like the ancestry websites… you know, to see if the parentage is the same. You're never going to believe what came back…"

###

"Unbelievable," Eddie shook her head once more in amazement as she rocked Joey and fed him while her now slightly extended branch of the Reagan family gathered for a quiet evening in front of the television. After the extraordinary events of just a few hours ago which had seen one six-foot-four burly PC show up unannounced at their front door with an ten-pound puppy tucked under his arm, a compromise had been made that left everyone happy, particularly her husband and sleeping daughter who were now stretched out on the couch with both a content little dog and a great big cat lying side-by-side between them. "All it took was one hiss and a swipe on the nose from Bear with no one to back him up and this one turned into a complete buttercup," she noted as an obvious top feline versus lower canine truce had been quickly ironed out and with it a complete reduction in barking to almost nil.

"Twenty-some pounds with claws and that attitude versus ten? A clear winner every time," Jamie observed without looking up as he paged through a book.

"Well, I guess you were right then... where there's a _Will,_ there's a way," she joked. "I can't believe your dad even offered to keep him in his office at 1PP for a few hours when we need help with the schedule and Pop volunteered to puppysit during the day."

"Uh-huh. Dad didn't want to admit it because of Greta, but he always loved dogs," Jamie replied while absentmindedly petting the quiet little pup sleeping at his side as if it had been born there as he was studying the guidelines for the detection training Sergeant Donohue had provided. "Besides, he's an official NYPD recruit now, and it's _William,"_ he reminded her of the preferred name which was held in honor so that whenever someone asked about it while they were on the job, a complete explanation was given which included the fallen officer's story. "It says the human handler is there to provide the guidance for the dog to do a task that not even a person with the most sensitive nose could perform… that we see with our eyes what they see with their noses. It's my job to put the dog's nose where it can make the find. I think this is doable as long as I get into the office an hour early every day and work through lunch," he admitted. "It's probably only for three more weeks and then every so often for maintenance."

"That's fine, dear," Eddie agreed, happy that her husband now had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream even down to the type of dog he had always wanted to have. "At least if nothing else he'll be able to find my cell phone whenever I lose it in the house, right?" she joked since that was practically a weekly event. "What are you going to tell people when they ask what he is?"

"The truth," Jamie revealed with a smug smile given the results of the breeds indicated by the DNA test. "He's a shepherd cross."

* * *

 _A shepherd cross indeed... no really! And just for fun, a little glimpse sometime in the future:_

"Reagan! Excellent job on that search! Hey, wait up! I'm gonna buy you and that puny mutt of yours a steak dinner!" the head of the Manhattan FBI counter-terrorism unit congratulated the K-9 pair as they exited the building after a successful sweep netting a number of well-hidden hard drives containing sensitive information on the organization of a terroristic cell thought to be operating in the city and planning a major event at Times Square—one that had now been thwarted by the diminutive little highly decorated rescue dog sporting an NYPD vest and a well-earned gold shield for his own past performances. "The two of you are worth ten men alone!"

"All I do is put his nose where it can make the find when we get the call, but thanks for the offer. Gotta get back to Legal now and work on the warrants for those other two sites. I'll have them for you by the end of the afternoon. Commissioner Reagan wants a complete search of every hole these guys crawled out of before anything else is planned."

"Well, tell your father I appreciate his support! Sure makes the job easier when we're all on the same page."

"Yes, it does, and thanks again. I'll give him your regards," came the reply before the dog and his handler made their way down to the SUV parked far across the road outside of the taped off perimeter and prepared to load up and leave to head back to 1PP for the second part of their ascribed mission.

"S'cuse me, officer," a curly-haired youngster watched with interest standing next to his father on the sidewalk. "Can I please pet him?" he asked out of curiosity as the small dog was immediately brought over for the other part of his job in community relations which he excelled at. Despite the long hours just spent in an intensive search, there was no stopping the full-body wags that came over him whenever a child was near. "What's his name?" the little boy laughed as he was greeted with light kisses on his nose.

"His name is Francis," the blond-haired human partner answered with a warm smile as she always did whenever that question was posed.

"That's a funny name for a dog," the young boy giggled.

"It's to honor my grandfather," Special Investigator Kaylin Reagan-Greystone explained since even with the other pressing matters in her busy schedule, there was always time to follow tradition and describe the history behind that choice. A Harvard law graduate herself, instead of the Supreme Court appointment Jamie had always envisioned for his daughter, and ironically despite his own misgivings, she had followed his path through the NYPD almost step for step and was now serving under him directly as the newly appointed top cop on the fourteenth floor. Under pressure from a pair of protective parents and a concerned spouse who had finally managed to convince her to pursue something less physically demanding while awaiting the birth of their first child, she had recently landed a transfer to the Legal Department as an FBI liaison after paying her dues through many years of distinguished service as a head trainer in the K-9 department—a unit she would remain attached to at least part-time until her current partner officially retired from duty in a few more months.

"My Grandpa loved dogs and was once the Police Commissioner of the whole city," she started with a laugh as she remembered Frank dearly with a tear in her eye and recalled his attachment to William and a few others that followed afterward during his retirement in the home on Harbor View Terrace that she now shared with her successful defense attorney husband and fellow Harvard alum. "And now my Dad is. They always wanted me to be a lawyer, but being a cop is in our family's blood, so that's what I decided to do instead."

–fin–

* * *

 _Well, that was bit of a shock to find Kaylin instead of Jamie in the role of K-9 officer there at the end, yes? LOL. There's a piece in the vein of "Where the Heart Lies" entitled "A Beautiful Lie" that will address this future Reagan family makeup along with a look at the past and how Mary's diagnosis of cancer and subsequent passing affected everyone's lives going forward._

 _As for the end here, there's a real story behind this short installment and the reason a new little OC is joining the Reagan family in werks-world. Most know that Will Estes, our real-life Jamie Reagan, is a big animal advocate and often promotes shelter adoption among other things. Well, over the past winter I got the urge to find a small dog––we have two including a springer and a corgi like the one in my profile pic, but never an honest-to-goodness little lap dog. I filled out a profile of what I was looking for on one of the Petfinder rescue search sites, and then pretty much forgot about it until I got an alert for three discarded by the roadside/starved purported corgi-mixed puppies available in the area. Low and behold, one of them was named Reagan––had to be a sign, right? It was. Long story short, we adopted one of the male pups, although not Reagan (the girl), and named him William to honor Will Estes' cause and keep with the BB theme. Super great dog, that's his pic used for this story's cover image, love him to death. He's the bestest lap dog ever. Anyway, we were stumped as to what the actual breed might be until I did a doggie DNA test which revealed I wasn't far off the mark when I first joked he was a chihuahua/german shepherd mix._

 _William, in real life laying aside of me as I write this is a fourteen-pound Wirehaired Miniature Dachshund/Chihuahua/English Springer Spaniel/Basset Hound/White Swiss Shepherd and 12.5% of something they couldn't figure out, lol._

 _Finally, "werk" on the first installment for Series III has begun, tentatively titled "This Meeting Never Happened," which will see Jamie challenged by both his father and brother as he settles into his new role as the liaison between the NYPD and FBI while an old political powder keg of a case sparks anew amid the upcoming mayoral election and threatens to come between them on the job. Little baby Kitty Elise (I know, poor Danny, we'll have to see what happens to the name, but I do love to give him a hard time!) will become a focal point for the older Reagan brother and Linda going forward as they navigate through the different legal issues and complications her presence in their lives will bring since their battles with Marcus are not quite over. Meantime, Eva and Armin Janko's unresolved feelings for one another will be tested once he is released from prison, and the events that follow will shake their daughter's faith in her father to the core again as Eddie faces some pretty big issues both professionally and personally herself._

 _That's it for now. Thanks for all the reviews, favs and follows!_


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